THE RTS NEWSLETTER
Association of American Geographers
Specialty Group on Recreation, Tourism, and Sport

Vol. 24, No. 1, May 1998

Edited by Robert L. Janiskee, Dept of Geography, Univ of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208

FROM THE CHAIR

I have just completed the Specialty Group report for the AAG and the
RTS business meeting minutes. Reflecting on my year as chair, I realize that this is a very
interesting group to be affiliated with. We often meet in beautiful cities that are tourism
destinations, so over a number of years we have the opportunity to experience a variety of tourist
attractions as well as exchange ideas on new areas of research. Of course, for me, a lover of
tropical areas, the AAG meeting in Hawaii is a dream destination that I now have a chance to
visit. RTS has invited the IGU Study Group on Sustainable Tourism to participate in the 1999
AAG meeting (focusing on the theme of Tourism and Migration: New Relationships in
Production and Consumption) and also to co-sponsor RTS-themed sessions. We should appeal to
a wider audience this way, and may even attract a few Pacific Rim geographers. Over to Bob
Janiskee for the rest of the newsletter. I would like to thank Bob for his long years of service as
newsletter editor and for keeping us well informed about RTS activities. It is a pleasure to
announce the appointment of Rob Bristow as the new editor of this newsletter. Please help us
welcome Rob by sending him interesting material. Barbara Carmichael

EDITOR'S CORNER

We need to remind ourselves now and then that the coordination of RTS-themed input to the annual meetings of the AAG is not the only vital function of our 225-member organization. The RTS Specialty Group came into existence nearly 25 years ago as an
instrument for advancing RTS interests on the broadest possible front. RTS members have
invested a huge amount of effort in the interrelated tasks of developing RTS themed courses,
setting the RTS research agenda, selecting suitable research techniques, deriving and
disseminating new knowledge, using RTS expertise to help solve real world problems, recruiting
and training new RTS geographers, and helping others understand what the RTS research
paradigm is and what it is good for. Participation in the annual AAG meetings has provided a
strong stimulus and an intellectually stimulating setting for many of these activities, but much of
the progress that RTS has made can be attributed to activities and events in other contexts. More
of us have been publishing our research findings in books and refereed journals--an activity that
is absolutely essential if we are to improve the subdiscipline's visibility. The RTS SG has
assisted in the launch of several new RTS-oriented journals, most notably the Tourism
Geographies project that Alan Lew spearheaded. We have forged strong and useful ties with the
IGU and several other organizations. We have begun to play a much more active role in
spotlighting and encouraging applied RTS (as with the new Rooney Award). We have made a
very strong commitment to networking with projects like the RTSNET-L discussion list and the
RTS Directory. To deliver the RTS message to a wider audience, some RTSers have been
developing new RTS-themed courses and exploring the use of distance education and other
underutilized or innovative vehicles and mediums. Many other positives can be mentioned, such
as the new RTS doctorate offered by the University of South Carolina. In light of these and
related facts, it is clear that our Specialty Group has much to be proud of .... and more incentive
than ever to use RTS SG resources in as diversified and balanced a way as practicable. To put a
finer point on it, we cannot afford to think of the annual meeting as the be-all and end-all reason
for having this Specialty Group. We need to constantly find new and more effective ways to
promote and facilitate RTS-themed research, teaching, and service. This is not just a challenge
for the SG's elected leaders; all of us have roles to play. Do something constructive, and make a
difference. Put on your thinking cap, generate some Useful Thoughts about what the RTS SG
ought to be doing (or not doing), and share them with your fellow RTSers. Give the Chair and
the RTS Board the benefit of your constructive criticisms and suggestions. Write up the gist of
your thinking on some Relevant Matter and submit a blurb for publication in this newsletter. If
you have not already done so, consider serving for a couple of years on the RTS Board (or maybe
you'd prefer to be the Chair?).
Since this is my last issue, let me take this opportunity to thank all of you who have
contributed over the years by sending Newsworthy Stuffe and helping in other ways to make this
newsletter possible. Like Dick Smith, Lisle Mitchell, Bill Cheek, Ted Goudge, Klaus Meyer-Arendt, and others who have edited this newsletter or its predecessors, I truly enjoy interacting
with the many fine people who share my enthusiasm for all things RTS. Rob Bristow's decision
to accept the editorship makes it a great deal easier for me to hand over the reins of a publication
that I have grown so very fond of. Being young (on the sunny side of 45, anyway), cyber-competent, connected, and as dedicated an RTSer as you will find anywhere, Rob will
doubtlessly find many ways to make the newsletter more lively, informative, and in step with the
times. Let's all help him by sending Newsworthy Stuffe for every issue.
As long as it pleases the Board, I will continue to manage the RTSNET-L discussion list
and publish the RTS Directory. By the way, please verify and update your Directory entry if you
have not done so recently. You can check it on the RTS web site or by contacting me
(janiskee@sc.edu or 803/777-6739). RLJ

RTS maintained a high profile at the AAG meeting in Boston last
March. The Specialty Group sponsored five paper sessions and two panel sessions. Six other
sessions on the meeting program were RTS-themed. Lisa DeChano, a Ph.D. student at
Southwest Texas State University, won the student paper competition (and a $100 check) with
her paper "Geographical Analysis of NHL Player Origins." There were no awards for 2nd or 3rd
place this year. About 50 people attended the RTS business meeting, where a great deal of RTS
business was attended to. The Treasurer's report showed a balance of $1,447. A motion to
change the name of the Specialty group to Leisure Geography died for want of a second [darn
it!]. The relationship of the Specialty group to the new journal Tourism Geographies First issue
due out in 1999) was discussed and clarified; in brief, RTS will be allocated an editorial board
membership and will regularly supply reports of SG activities to be published in TG. Most of the
other salient announcements, happenings, decisions, awards, etc., are reported in various parts of
this newsletter. Consult the RTS home page for additional details about the meeting. After the
business meeting, about 20 RTSers adjourned to a seafood restaurant for dinner. The dinner
outing, which originated some years ago as a spontaneous sort of thing, is now an eagerly
anticipated event that is held each year in honor of our annual award winners (who eat free).
We'll do it again in Honolulu, of course.

1999 HONOLULU MEETING PLANS

RTS is making ambitious plans for the AAG meeting that will be held
23-27 March 1999 in Honolulu. At the business meeting in Boston, members suggested the
following paper sessions (organizers in parens): Malls and Tourism (Jerry Gerlach); Tourism and
the South Pacific (Ann-Marie d'Hauteserre); Heritage Tourism (Charles Stansfield); Tourism and
War (Rudi Hartmann); Sport Geography (Ted Goudge); and Special Populations and Recreation
(Margaret Pawlick). These suggestions are on hold at the moment. Since the meeting, Lisle
Mitchell has come up with a bold proposal to set aside the traditional paper session format and
go to a poster and illustrated paper session format. It makes a lot of sense for this particular
meeting, since concentrating the presentations will permit us to take maximum advantage of this
marvelous Hawaiian venue. To put it another way, why tie yourself up in day after day of paper
sessions when you can do the whole thing, including the business meeting, in one day and use the
rest of the time for field-tripping and such? Everyone who wants to make an RTS-themed
presentation at the Honolulu meeting should contact Lisle, who can provide up to date
information about the status of the proposal and the relevant session themes, formats, and
deadlines. Here is the gist of Lisle's proposal.
The format for the Honolulu meeting of the AAG is for 100 minute sessions followed by
a 20 break. The sessions are scheduled to begin at 8 and 10 AM and 1:45, 3:45 and 5:45 PM
with a 2-hour lunch break. In order to maximize attendance and enhance the interactions between
RTS member it is proposed that oral presentations be reduced and poster or illustrated paper
sessions be expanded. Poster and illustrated paper sessions differ in that Illustrated Paper
presenters are provided a 3-8 minute time period to highlight the essence of their research, then,
as with Poster sessions, all in attendance can sample research materials in poster format. Either
of these two formats should give presenters and participants sufficient time to discuss research
findings. In addition, the deadline for Poster and Illustrated Paper abstracts is 1 October rather
than 4 September, which will provide move time for abstract preparation and session organizing.
Specifically, the RTS SG proposes that two Poster and/or Illustrated Paper sessions be
organized starting at 1:45 and 3:45 p.m., and that the annual RTS Business Meeting be scheduled
for 5:45 the same afternoon. We further propose that these sessions be scheduled back-to-back
on the same date. The AAG seems favorably disposed toward this proposal. Specific details
about the meeting, fees, abstracts, participation forms, etc. may be found in the May 1998 AAG
Newsletter (v33 n5). If you are interested in participating in one of these sessions, contact Lisle S.
Mitchell, Dept of Geography, Univ of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina 29208; voice
(803)777-2986; fax (803)777-4972; mitchell@garnet.cla.sc.edu

STUDENT TRAVEL GRANTS FOR HONOLULU

The Honolulu venue for the 1999 AAG meeting has a lot going for it, but cheap travel costs is not one of them. Knowing that students
will be particularly hard pressed to come up with necessary green, the AAG Central Office and
its affiliates have allocated funds for a number of student travel grants.
The AAG Council is awarding a limited number of $200 travel grants to students who
submit, by June 30, abstracts of papers deemed to be acceptable for presentation at an AAG
meeting. Note that the June 30 deadline for the AAG application is vital, because students
normally must apply for the AAG grant to be eligible for grants from the regional divisions
or specialty groups. An application form will be found in the May 1998 (Vol. 33, No. 5) issue
of the AAG Newsletter. Additional details and the application form are available at the AAG web
site (http://www.aag.org)
The RTS Specialty Group will allocate up to $1,000 to support student travel grants for
the Honolulu meeting. Any student whose application for an AAG travel grant is unsuccessful
will be eligible for an RTS grant, providing that the proposed presentation is RTS-themed. The
AAG will give the RTS SG a list of qualifying applications and award winners. Like the AAG,
the RTS SG will use a random selection process for the grants. Regional divisions such as the
SEDAAG are also planning to make some student travel grants. Interested parties should contact
their respective regional division officials.

ROY WOLFE AWARD

Klaus Meyer-Arendt has been named the recipient of the 1998 Roy Wolfe Award for outstanding RTS research and service. Klaus, Professor of Geography at
Mississippi State University and Director of the Mississippi Geographic Alliance, is well known
to RTSers. His research on tourism and the environment, coastal resorts and resort cycles, casino
gambling, and related subjects has substantially influenced the development of our subdiscipline.
Over the years he has chaired our Specialty Group (1993-95), edited the RTS Newsletter,
organized RTS paper sessions for the AAG meetings, and performed other valuable services. The
fact that he has been designated to write the RTS chapter for the new edition of Geography in
America attests to the great respect we have for Klaus and his work. Congratulations to Klaus
Meyer-Arendt for landing the 1998 Roy Wolf Award--and the chairmanship of the Department of
Environmental Studies at the University of West Florida, a position he will assume in August.

JOHN ROONEY APPLIED RTS AWARD

Mark Okrant has been honored with the John Rooney Award for applied RTS. He thus becomes the second recipient of the award, which
recognizes outstanding achievement in the area of RTS-themed problem solving or policy- and
decision-making. Mark, who was a student and advisee of John Rooney while at Oklahoma State
University, received his Ed.D. from OSU in 1975. He is now professor of geography and
coordinator of travel and tourism development at Plymouth State College. Since 1990 he has
been coordinating research for the New Hampshire Office of Travel and Tourism Development.
Over the years, Mark has received roughly a half-million dollars worth of grants and awards in
support of his work, which has produced travel studies for a number of communities, resorts,
states, and provinces (including New Hampshire, Georgia, Alaska, and Nova Scotia). In addition
to serving on the Board of TTRA-International and as past-president of the New England-St.
Lawrence Valley Geographical Society, Mark was the first director of Plymouth State College's
North Country Resource Center, an outreach Research, technical assistance, and education center
that was created to help sustain and improve the quality of life in northern New England.

CONFERENCES

2-3 April 1998. Third Annual Sport Tourism Conference "Getting Ahead of the Game: Economic
Development Through Sport Marketing." Normal, Illinois. Includes Sport Tourism Research
Symposium. Contact Doug Turco, (309)438-2160 or (800)877-1478, or dmturco@ilstu.edu

21-22 August 1998. Second National Tourism Students Conference "Tourism in the Pacific Rim:
Past, Present, and Future." Dunedin, New Zealand. Hosted by the Tourism Club at the University
of Otago. Contact Brent Ritchie, +(64) 3 479 8057 or fax +(64)3 479 9034 or
britchie@commerce.otago.ac.nz

1 September 1998. Virtual Conference "Foundations of Sport Tourism." To be held over the
Internet; duration three months. Sponsored by the Sports Tourism International Council and
MCB-University Press. Five sub-themes: Rural Sports Tourism, Understanding the Sports
Tourist, Pilgrimage Sports Tourism, The Sports Tourism Industry, and Sports Tourism and
Urban Regeneration. STIC will publish a Proceedings. Contact bhfc@interpoint.net

15-18 October 1998. International Society of Travel and Tourism Educators Conference
"Toward the Next Millennium: Travel Education Beyond the Year 2000." Cleveland, Ohio.
Contact Cathy H.C. Hsu, (515)294-9945 or cathyhsu@iastate.edu

28-31 October 1998. Sixth Annual Australian national Ecotourism Conference "Developing
Ecotourism into the Millennium." Margaret River, Western Australia. Contact Janet Payton or
mary-Lou Barry, IDD +(618) 9791 2000 or swdc@bis.net.au; or see web site
http://www.bis.net.au/swdc

19-23 October 1999. Sustaining Rural Environments: Issues in Globalization, Migration, and
Tourism. Flagstaff, Arizona. Contact Alan Lew, alan.lew@nau.edu or see the conference home
page at www.geog.nau.edu/igust/rural/

also see home page at http:\\www.south-asia.com/icimod.htm [for the section on "Tourism and Migration" (organized
by the IGU Study Group on the Geography of Sustainable Tourism), contact C. Michael Hall at
cmhall@commerce.otago.ac.nz]

Tourism Geographies Editor-in-Chief Alan Lew needs manuscripts for his fully-refereed
international journal of tourism place, space, and environment.
www.geog.nau.edu/tg/ for additional information or contact Alan at (928)523-6567 or alan.lew@nau.edu.
Bob Janiskee is still looking for manuscripts for his Journal of Cultural Geography
special issue on festivals, fairs, and other special events. Contact him at (803)777-6739 or
janiskee@sc.edu. If heritage tourism is your thing, contact Charles Stansfield at (609)256-4500
and ask him about the special issue of JCG he is editing. Klaus Meyer-Arendt has suggested a
special issue JCG on the theme of gambling. If you'd like to discuss this with Klaus, contact him
at Mississippi State. (After August 7th you will find him at (850)474-2746 or kjma@uwf.edu).
If you are conducting sports geography research, and especially if you have research
results to report, Sport Place International editor Allen Finchum would love to hear from you.
You can reach him at (405)744-6250 or <finchum@okway.okstate.edu>; if you prefer, visit the
web site, (www.geog.okstate.edu) or write Allen Finchum, Editor, Sport Place, Dept of
Geography, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078. PS: SP needs book reviewers and
additional qualified individuals interested in reviewing manuscripts or submitting short pieces
and reports.

RTSERS AT WORK AND PLAY

Congratulations to Geoff Wall, who was recently elected President of the International Academy for the Study of Tourism. Whenever Geoff can wrest
himself clear of his duties as Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Research at the University
of Waterloo, he likes to head for Exotic Places like Indonesia, China, etc. He recently returned
from what he describes as a "frustrating" trip to Pakistan (I guess they must have nixed his
request to observe the underground tests?), just in time to host a Chinese delegation visiting in
connection with his Hainan project.

Editor-in-waiting Rob Bristow has completed his semester-long Internet course "Recreation Geography Online." He presented a paper on that theme at the
NERR Symposium last April. The Forest Service will publish the manuscript, but Rob will also
post it on the web. {Be sure to check out the online course's web site,
http://bondo.wsc.mass.edu/dept/garp/recgeog.htm).

RTS Board member Charles Stansfield is
guest-editing a special issue on the heritage tourism theme for the Journal of Cultural
Geography.

Tom Rumney continues to gather information on articles, books, theses,
dissertations, etc. for his ever-burgeoning sports geography bibliography; he asks that you send
Relevant Info to him at rumneyta@splava.cc.plattsburgh,edu.

Sport Place International editor
Allen Finchum has finished another catchup edition (v9n2) and is moving with all due haste to
bring the publication schedule up to date and make SPI a fully refereed journal. Our humble
apologies to Allen for listing the wrong address for SPI in the last issue of this newsletter (see
Call for Papers for correct information).

Gordon Tichener, who has taken over for Martin
Oppermann at Waiariki Polytechnic, reports that his new E-mail address is
gordon.tichener@waiariki.ac.nz.

RTS Board member Simon Milne has left McGill University in
Montreal and is now ensconced at the University of Wellington in New Zealand.

Chris Ryan
has left Northern Territory University and moved on over to the Tourism Programme at the
University of Waikato, where he can be reached at caryan@waikato.ac.nz.

Alan Lew has
returned from Singapore and is once again holding forth at Northern Arizona University. Alan is
busying himself with editing Tourism Geographies: An International Journal of Tourism Space,
Place, and Environment, organizing a conference on sustaining rural environments, taking
possession of the databases and >40,000-item archive collection of tourism-related materials
recently gifted to him by the (now retired) master archivist Jeanne Gay, and doing other
Interesting Stuffe. Ever eager to please, Alan says that he can now "answer all your questions
about Singapore's gateway tourism development, cruise industry, MICE industry, and its
changing landscapes." (Here's a question for you, Alan: What's a MICE industry?)

When last
heard from, pedal-to-the-medal gadabout Michael Hall had paused at the University of Otago
(Dunedin, NZ) long enough accumulate yet another return address, but is apparently doing (or is
planning on doing, or has done) a visiting professor stint in the School of Leisure and Food
Management at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK (Did Dick Butler have a hand in this?). For those who may have lost count, Michael has just published his five-gazillionth book.

Speaking of books, Klaus Meyer-Arendt reports that the casino gambling book he and Rudi
Hartmann did is out now. Speaking of Klaus, he continues to work in behalf of the Mississippi
Geographic Alliance, and this July he will be producing an advanced GA institute on "Coastal
Environments" for K-12 teachers. But he will soon be moving--lock, stock, and freshly-minted
Roy Wolfe Award--to Pensacola, Florida, where he will become Professor and Chair,
Department of Environmental Studies, University of West Florida. After August 7th you can try
to reach him at (850)474-2746 or kjma@uwf.edu. He may be too busy to answer, however, since
he will probably be spending his spare time writing the RTS chapter for the new edition of
Geography in America.

RTSers Dimitri Ioannides and Keith Debbage have edited a new book
on the economic geography of the tourist industry; I haven't seen it yet, but I bet it's a dandy.

Lisle Mitchell recently warned the RTS Board that he will be retiring in about four years, thus
leaving perilously little time to find and train a new Secretary-Treasurer. Members are urged to
remain calm while the Board goes on an emergency footing.

Bob "Fast Track" Janiskee has
been promoted to full professor after just 19 years as associate professor. Asked to explain the
secret of his meteoric rise, Janiskee replied "Eat a sensible diet, exercise regularly, and outlive
the competition."

RTSNET-L UPDATE: The RTS Internet discussion list, RTSNET-L, has 160 subscribers.
Traffic has picked up in recent months, and loads of Interesting Stuffe is passing back on forth.
To subscribe, send a request to janiskee@sc.edu.

WAY COOL URLs:
Tourism Research Links (http://www.tourism-montreal.org/tourism.htm [English version] or
http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/tourisme.htm [French version]). This is NOT a travel site; it is
intended for researchers and tourism professionals. 700+ links, categorized (Research, Industry,
Technology).

MapQuest (http://www.mapquest.com). Good map and driving directions for auto travel; yields
great directions and maps.

Excite Travel Site (http://city.net/). Very good place to search out cheap airfares. You probably
already know about the Best Fares site, http://www.bestfares.com/, which lets you browse the
"hidden travel bargains" section even if you are not a paid subscriber. Also, for good links to the
home page of just about every airline that flies, visit http://www.airlines.com/.

World Travel and Tourism Council (http://www.wttc.org/). Interesting stats, issue papers.

RTS COURSES

In 1995, RTS Chair Barbara Carmichael used a mail survey to gather
information about recreation and tourism courses offered in the U.S. and Canada. She presented
the salient results of her study at the STTE conference in Ottawa in 1996. Here is the gist of it.
The AAG Directory indicated that there were 39 American and 15 Canadian geography
departments with courses of that type, and four additional ones were listed in Schwendeman's.
Most departments offered only one or two courses of the tourism and recreation type. Two
offered more than four courses each and a specialization in travel and tourism. The most
frequently mentioned courses were Geography of Recreation (8), Geography of Travel and
Tourism (4), Geography of Recreation and Tourism (4), and Geography of Tourism (3). For
additional information, contact Barbara Carmichael at <bcarmich@mach1.wlu.ca>.

Michael Fagence wants to contact people conducting research into
climate/tourism interactions, such as the influence of climate on tourism patterns and tourist
activities. Contact m.fagence@mailbox.uq.edu.au or phone 61-7-3365-4103.

Alyson Greiner has been appointed assistant editor of the Journal of Cultural Geography
and will be transitioned in over the next few years to replace current editor Lou Seig.

PARTING FACTOIDS: America hosted a record 24.2 million overseas travelers in 1997, a 7.5
percent increase over 1996. Number of MacArthur Fellow "genius grants" in the amount of
$235,000 awarded in 1998 to Syracuse University cultural geographers named Don Mitchell:
one. Number of MacArthur Fellow genius grants won by RTSers since the beginning of time:
zero. Fees that weather junkies are paying for 10- to 14-day storm-chasing tours offered by a
half-dozen companies in America's famed Tornado Alley: $1,500-$2,000.